Wednesday, April 29, 2009

So…Sunday afternoon after an almost entire week of nagging, whining and bullying I got Steve to take me to the Landmark for an early dinner. We went there for my Birthday with the family last Saturday and I was so smitten with all the food choices I could actually eat that were gluten and sugar-free that I made Steve take me back last Sunday. The Landmark also has the most delicious decaf coffee. I know that sounds silly but it is so good I am trying to con the chef there into selling me some. Oh, I want some right now. But that’s not what this story is about. Focus, Jenny, focus.

So…about Tuesday I began with subtle hints that I was ready to go there for dinner again. Hmmm… no results. Wednesday was a bit more toward nagging and by Thursday I was pretty much just snarling at my poor husband until finally on Saturday the poor guy figured out what I was trying to tell him. So we went.

I pretended to be surprised and gracious. “What? You want to go to the Landmark for an early dinner? Are you sure? I don’t mind cooking!” all the while throwing on whatever sort of matching shoes I could find and running toward the garage door.We drove the Jeepster. It was lovely. Steve isn’t supposed to drive with his broken foot, but he did. I wasn’t supposed to let him, but I did. And it was wonderful! The late afternoon light here in Arizona is unbelievable. It is just like light molten gold diffused everywhere. The sky was high and brilliant blue with a few white clouds thrown in to make it perfect. The breeze was sweet and floral scented. Many things are in bloom now and sometimes you feel like you are inside an amazing perfume bottle. And it always seems like everyone waves and says “hi” when you are driving that cool car.

I love the Landmark for several reasons. It reminds me so much of Ohio. It has the same wallpaper in the dining room I used to have in my old farmhouse. It has the same stove in the buffet room that I burned my eyebrows off with a lot of years ago. It has a good menu but a really good salad bar with all kinds of things I can eat AND it has the most scrumptious decaf coffee in the universe.

We were seated close to the front and both the server and the waitress remembered us. Hmmm…. “Weren’t you here last weekend?” Ummm…. “Yes.” “We remember you because you both have the same broken right foot.” Accck. So much for being icognito.

But you know what? This still isn’t what this story is supposed to be about. Focus, Jenny, focus.

So…at the next table there was a tiny little old man and woman. They had to be in their 90’s. I don’t think either one could hear because everyone was talking to them very loudly and they had those sweet quavery voices of the very old. I always want to kidnap them and take them somewhere and listen while they tell me their life stories. So much experience, wisdom and life in people that aged.

They were accompanied by one middle-aged woman and two younger people. The middle-aged woman kept talking to them with great love and saying “Granpa, can I get you some more water?” or “Grandma, do you need your sweater?”

Across the restaurant was another older woman accompanied by a middle-aged man. There was no conversation happening there. It seemed that they spent the meal in silence. It made me sad. When they got up to leave he simply got up and walked to the door leaving the older woman to struggle with her sweater and cane. I wanted to slap him. I wanted to help her. I’m not sure why but, again, I felt very angry about this.

When the other couple got up to leave the granddaughter and the younger people gathered around them to help them with a sweater, to give them a pat and a hug. They exchanged many “I love you’s” and escorted them with respect and dignity to the door. I wanted to hug them all. I wanted to clap.

I told Steve I hope we are the kind of grandparents that our granddaughters will take to dinner one day and help us put our sweaters on. The kind where they still want to visit us. I want it to be like that. I don’t want to be sitting ackwardly across from them watching them count the minutes until it is time to leave. Or to never have even the opportunity to count the minutes because they don’t visit us.But perhaps I will be senile and I won’t care. Or perhaps I am already senile because I do care.

My coffee was wonderful, my husband was sweet, I ate like a starving truck-driver AND I got a real-life vignette of love and caring.So…I’m thinking I need to go visit my parents and then would you like to go to lunch with me? I’ll choose where we go! I’ll give you a hint. It starts with the letter “L”.

Sunday, April 26, 2009

...and had a great day in the process. Steve and I spent all day yesterday in Tucson with our son Chris and his girlfriend, Lindsey. It was a gorgeous day for a drive to Tucson ... high white clouds, deep blue sky, mountains silhouetted ... We met at a very funky, cool restaurant called El Charro and it was so eclectic and neat inside. Cris and Lindsey had some amazing looking combination plates but I was a very good girl and had a topopo salad with no tortillas. Accckk. That was hard. The salad was very different and kind of looked like a volcano. Then Chris and Steve dropped Lindsey and I off to attend a dance performance at this amazing place called the Stevie Eller Dance Theatre. which was cased all in rusty metal. Ahhh, it was so funky and neat and I wanted to unscrew one of the big panels and tote it home for some unknown purpose. The performances were done by Performing Arts student at the U of A and really diverse and interesting. One super dark performance was disturbing the rest were mesmerizing. My foot kept acting up and falling asleep which was the only bad thing. Broken feet are kind of a pain in the ... well, I guess that would be pain in the foot. Sigh. On the way back to their house we stopped and got some coffee at a little place called Raging Sage and sat outside on the patio and talked about bikes, oranges, shade sails and other deep philosophical stuff like that.

We visited a bit at the house (which is very nicely done and so extremely clean I shuddered for a moment remembering what I had left behind at home), I played one of Chris' slightly out of tune guitars and then we said our goodbyes and headed home accompanied by the golden western sun.

It as a fun day. Wish you could have been there. Then you could have held my hand during the scary dance number. I was afraid to ask Lindsey to.

Monday, April 20, 2009

...maybe I'm just getting crabby cuz our dog is laying by my feet at my desk licking. Licking. Licking. Licking. I say "OSKAR! STOP!" he looks at me with big, innocent brown eyes... "who me?" Licking. Licking. My daughter told me once you can train a dog not to lick. Is that a euphanism for beating the tar out of him when he does? If so I will probably be willing to comply with this requirement in about 4.8 seconds. Licking. Licking. OK, that's it. I am leaving my office lickety-split.

Uh oh. Wait! There is something worse then licking. This might have to do with the almost full box of bran cereal he somehow got out of the cupboard and ate when we were gone on Saturday evening. Yikes. Eegads! Holding my breath now.

Saturday, April 18, 2009

So ... I got up this morning and told Steve I was going garage sale-ing for an hour and he said "What? Without me?" (actual truth and I about fell over - ha) so we both hobbled out to the car and headed out. Right by my house was an amazing garage sale where I bought these three items for $40.00! I love this double school desk and I think Jessie said she wanted to collect cake plates and I love covered pyrex for storing leftovers. It was kind of unfortunate that Steve was along cuz there were tons more cool things I would have bought but he voiced his opinion on them.... acccckkk! He was wrong but what could I do?

So I passed up the primitive window frames, passed up the primitive metal boxes, passed up the rusted old parts to a hoosier.

Friday, April 17, 2009

So....Steve and I are true solemates now. It's true. Nothing will ever "break" us apart now that we are each experiencing a broken right foot together. Here's a picture of the happy couple now. Awwww.... Steve broke his foot about three weeks ago and is wearing this super-heavy constructed boot that weighs a ton. At the beginning it was hugely painful but seems to be hurting less as it's healing. I broke mine a few days ago when I dropped a package of frozen corn tortillas on it. I've been toughing it out for several days but it has been getting worse so today was spent in getting x-rays, referrals, etc. and now I also have a light-weight boot!

The couple that breaks together stays together so I think it is all going to end well. We're dumb.

Wednesday, April 15, 2009

...a little while Darth Vader came to my bed. It's true. I jumped up in mortal terror and turned the light on and saw... Then I fumbled for my glasses and saw it was only Steve and his stupid C-PAP making the scary noise. I smacked him and told him to fix his mask cuz it was scaring me.

And then I couldn't go back to sleep cuz I'm all pumped up with adrenaline.

Monday, April 13, 2009

Sunday, April 12, 2009

It's a beautiful morning here, all rain-washed and shiny with a lovely fresh scent in the air. All the cookies are made waiting to be decorated with their colorful icing. The eggs are in their cartons anxiously looking forward to their very, very hot bath in preparation of wearing their Easter brights! All the brunch food is prepared to some point. I have Grandkid and Kid and relatives Easter treats and baskets ready to go. Things are organized for egg hunts for the big and small. How blessed I am to have so much grace in my life on this Easter morning.

Thursday, April 9, 2009

I let my life get in the way. I'm sorry. Things got crazy and I sadly neglected my poor little blog. Don't hate me. It's just we are crazy, crazy busy. I took a bunch of pictures of stuff we're busy with but I haven't even had time to sort them. Maybe if I sort them I'll remember what I've been doing. As it is it's all a blur...a busy, busy blur.

But here, at least, is a picture of my little bunny door. It looks like a chocolate bunny. Which reminds me I need to eat breakfast. Unfortunately, it will not be a chocolate bunny because I haven't bought them yet for Easter...which is just another reason I'm so busy.

And, yes, I do want some cheese with this whine. Or perhaps chocolate. I hear chocolate and whine go together well.

Sunday, April 5, 2009

Especially when it's my poor sweet Steve. He broke his foot. Apparently many people get these hairline (shouldn't that be sole-line) fractures but they heal very quickly because they generally occur in a vasular area of the foot (hey, don't hate me because I'm brilliant - I'm just repeating what the podiatrist Dr. Person said) BUT Steve broke his foot in an area with little vasular blah-blah so it is going to be around six weeks, wearing this boot, and staying off of it before it heals. They may need to do something extra to help it along but they won't know that for two more weeks. I think this is my fault. Really, don't try to console me and tell me it isn't. I did this with a bad karma April Fools joke. It's true. I told Greg that Steve had broken his leg and I needed help and Greg got all worried and look at what my stupid joke actually caused. Anyway, I guess the broken foot isn't really about me at all (even though I am the center of my own intense Universe) so I will close this by saying "poor Steve" (and then quickly adding - waaaahhh. now I have to do my own vacuuming AND clean the wood floors by myself) Sigh.

Friday, April 3, 2009

This week has been crazy busy but instead of zipping by it's felt slow. Weird. Or perhaps I'm not really busy but just dreaming I'm busy and I'm actually being a slug laying around eating bon bons and watching Martha reruns.

Either way it's finally Friday.

Tomorrow I am taking my Mom to an engagement party for our wonderful nephew Tom. Then Chris and Lindsey are coming up for an early birthday dinner since they can't come at Easter. Sad on the Easter thing. Happy on the seeing them thing.

Steve has a podiatrist appointment today to get to the bottom (hee hee - or would that be a colonoscopist to get to the bottom - ewwwww)of his foot problem. I took him to Urgent care yesterday and he is wearing a boot and using crutches and just generally in some heavy duty pain. He's so funny, though. You can't even tell it hurts - he is so stoic. Or would that be brave.

My friend Beth put up a link to this neat site for quilt patterns. It's a beautiful site. She is doing a giveaway and I like the alliteration of FREE ON FRIDAY IN FINLAND (actually I think she's in Sweden and you should comment just to see how cool the comment thing looks in a foreign language AND it will make you feel wildly continental as well) so go there now to enter to win something cool.OK, today is babysitting and I have to finish painting this silly door with a bunny so it can get hung today. I'm not sure what was in my head but I sure hope it executes as well in real life. If it does I'll share a picture.

If it doesn't, I'll just paint over and pretend I always meant for it to be plain.